This creamy icing is reminiscent of traditional cream cheese icing–> but without the heavy cream cheese!
Loaded with nutrient-rich raw cashews, it’s not your average sweet topping. It’s a great source of manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and vitamin K, and happens to be bursting with anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, thanks to the coconut oil and raw honey.
Enjoy over your favorite cupcakes and quick breads for a creamy, decadent treat!
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Creamy Cashew Icing (Dairy-free)
makes 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients:
3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked 2-3 hours and rinsed
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2-4 tablespoons water, as needed for blending
Directions:
Combine the first six ingredients in a high-powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding water as necessary to facilitate blending.
Adjust flavor to taste, then transfer to a bowl and chill in the freezer for at least an hour, to allow the icing to thicken.
The longer it chills, the thicker it will get!
Spoon it over your favorite baked goods, and serve immediately! (Keep the frosted treats chilled, if not serving immediately.)
Creamy Cashew Icing (Dairy-free)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup raw cashews , soaked 2-3 hours and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil , melted
- 3 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2-4 tablespoons water , as needed for blending
Instructions
- Combine the first six ingredients in a high-powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding water as necessary to facilitate blending.
- Adjust flavor to taste, then transfer to a bowl and chill in the freezer for at least an hour, to allow the icing to thicken. The longer it chills, the thicker it will get!
- Spoon the icing over your favorite baked goods, and serve immediately! (Keep the frosted treats chilled, if not serving immediately.)
Notes
Nutrition
Calories per serving: 97, Fat: 7g, Carbohydrates: 8g, Fiber: 0g, Protein: 1g
Enjoy!
hi megan, have you tried a chocolate version of this frosting? i was also wondering if its possible to use a piping bag with this frosting?
thanks!
I have tried a chocolate version, but I didn’t like it enough to post a recipe about it yet. This is more of an icing that will spread, rather than a frosting that can be piped… I don’t think it would hold any sort of shape on a cupcake.
I just made this frosting recipe last night and put it on a raw vegan carrot cake. It was really good. Due to long term bovine dairy allergies, I don’t really remember what cream cheese tastes like, but this was really good with carrot cake. One quick note – I didn’t have lemons, so I used a peach infused white balsamic vinegar instead for the acid component, and it still turned out really tasty. Thank you so much for this recipe! 🙂
had this today….very good. Had it on the shortbread cookies (what’s the dif between those and the sugat cookies? Same ingredients).
Planning to try almond flour crepes for the left over cashew ‘icing’….I made it so-so sweet so it seems like it would make for a rich filling.
I made this frosting yesterday for brownies and it was deeeelicious!! Loved it and it was so easy too!
Hi Megan,
Is there a substitute for the coconut oil in this recipe? Non-dairy of course.
Thanks,
Cheri
Oh my this taste so wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. And it is so easy. It tasted like ice cream or pudding just superb, very interested in trying out your other recipes as I feel they will be great as well. 🙂
I love the sound of this to put on my multi allergic sons 2nd bday cake but I do wonder if I could leave out the lemon juice or does it play an important role? Acidic things are on our list of no nos, thanks!
Yes, I’m sure it would still be tasty without it!
lemons are acidic outside of the body, but INSIDE the body, they become very alkalining and do wonders for balancing your PH levels.
I made a chocolate version to have with strawberries. Just took out the lemon juice and coconut oil. Added quite a but of unsweetened cocoa. Til it was a dark brown color. Sorry. Kept adding so lost track of how much. Also used browned sugar instead for the chocolate version.
Alternatives for the cashews? I’m allergic to cashews. 🙁
Maybe Brazil or macadamia nuts?
Hi! Can I eat this icing just like that, maybe for breakfast with chia seeds? Or it is intended only for cakes, muffins?
Hello Megan. You know what?! You made my day! Lol!
I made some apple/carrot cupcakes using the pulp from my morning juicing and wanted a healthy frosting. I searched the web and found you! I’m so happy I did because this frosting was AMAZING! I was surprised how good it was!
Thank you SO much and I look forward to checking out your other healthy recipes.
Blessings,
Tena
P.S. I have some photos I wish I could post. 🙂
I plan to try this….can I add 2 or 3 tablespoons of coconut flour to help firm it up? I want to add salted caramel and candy bacon on top.
Instead of coconut flour, I used some guar-gum, you only need a teeny tiny bit though, like 1/16 tsp…seriously. Just add it to the melted coconut oil before putting it in the cashews. Anyway, it firmed it up nicely. Not a super huge fan of the taste, seems like I couldn’t add enough lemon to cover it up, but the guar-gum does its job and it has no taste.
…to clarify, I meant the taste of the recipe, not the taste of the guar-gum
I want to use some cashew butter I have on hand to save time. How much should I use?
I love the idea of this recipe, but I did not care for the taste. The raw cashews leave a strange aftertaste in your mouth. My family didn’t like it either. I think it could be good on a carrot cake but other then that, I wouldn’t use it.
Ok this is so cooooool! The recipe tastes just like cream cheese!
Hi,
Could you use maple syrup instead of honey? If so, would you use the same amount? Thanks!
I think honey has a stronger taste and sweetness, so you could probably use less– just add a little water if needed to compensate.
Thank you!
Hello! I would love to make this for my gingerbread cookies but I was wondering if it is possible to use maple syrup in place of the honey? I am guessing it may change the consistency a little bit? Let me know what you think! Thank you!
Maple syrup usually results in a “runnier” consistency than honey, and you might need a little more since honey tends to be sweeter. It will taste good, I’m just not sure how it will affect the consistency! Let us know if you try it.
I’m allergic to coconut oil, can I use something in its place?
If you can tolerate real butter, that’s usually the best substitute for coconut oil as it firms up when chilled.
could u use a food processor instead of the blender??
How long does it stay good for? And BTW is amazing!!!
This stuff is so good!! We used coconut nectar instead of raw honey. It turned out really, really awesome.
What a WONDERFUL recipe! My hubby and my girls LOVED it! Thank you so much for offering a dairy-free alternative!
Thank you for this ! I am vegan except that I do eat locally produced raw honey (not industrial honey) from a very small beekeeper. … I would like to try it with maple syrup to make it officially vegan – but I am guessing it’s going to need more coconut oil or some other thing to firm it up if you use that because honey is so much thicker.
To this recipe, I added about 2T of nutritional yeast to the recipe – makes it taste more cheese-y as it was for a butternut squash/date/pecan loaf. And I used a vanilla bean pod scraped rather than vanilla liquid.
Also because I was out of lemons but was baking after stores were closed – I used Ume – su (a sweet Japanese plum vinegar) instead of the lemon. It turned out really nice with that. And it was pretty thick as well. Next time I may try adding agar agar … (for firmness) with maple syrup. It’s a flexible recipe. I am interested to try a chocolate version like some people have mentioned here. I wonder if adding nice soft dates into the chocolate powder for the frosting would help ?
Delicious frosting! I’m not vegan but I appreciate recipes like these rather than the typical overly processed diet. Thank you!
Can I pipe with this frosting? Does it hold its shape? Can I frost my cupcakes 1 or 2 days ahead? Thanks
No, this one doesn’t hold shape for piping. Try one of my sweet potato frostings or chocolate frostings here on the website for something that you can pipe onto cupcakes.
Delicious! Made recipe as directed, topped it on my gf vegan carrot cake! Everyone LOVEDit. Thanks for another amazing recipe.
Made this to compliment my daughter’s birthday cake.
I had to double the recipe and I know it wasn’t part of the orginal recipe but along with soaking the cashews, I soaked a half cup mini bag of roasted, unsalted Macadamia nuts and both of the flavors really worked nicely together.
I made this using almonds instead of cashews and maple syrup instead of honey (for a vegan option!). It came out great!! I used it for a carrot cake. Thank you! Wish I could post a photo 🙂
Impressively delicious and family approved!